Abdominal garment



May 2, 1933. F. J. STUART ABDOMINAL GARMENT Original Filed March 19,1928 ATTORNEY.

Patented May 2, 1933 UNITED STATES FRANK J. STUART, OF ST. LOUIS,MISSOURI ABDOMINAL GARMENT Subxtitute for application Serial No.262,710, filed larch 19, 1928. This application filed Kay 8, 1938.

Serial No. 610,224. a I

This application is a substitute for apphcation 262,710, for Abdominalgarment, filed by me March 19, 1928.

The invention has for an ob ect to efiect a novel construction of agarment having detachable leg pieces and aims part cularly to provide anovel manner of attaching the leg pieces. While variously applicable,the present embodiment of the invention is partic- 1 ularly directed toimprovements in abdom nal belts and the like made of elastic materials,the belt portions of which it is undesirable to launder because of therapid deterioration of the elastic threads which is caused thereb and itis'an object of my invention to en-' a le the leg pieces to be properlyattached in such a garment and easily removed for laundering. It is anespecial aim to provide a fastening for such leg pieces in which aminimum service will be involved in repairing fastenings due tolaundering.

Another important aim of the invention 1s to obviate the need formanipulating any element of the means by which the legs are fastenedtothe belt when the belt is removed or replaced upon the person. This isan 1mportant attainment in such appliances and eliminatesthe possibilityof irksome delays and adjustments, faulty adjustments of the parts, andliability of discomfort generally.

A further aim of the invention is to present a non-elastic attachingmeans which will nevertheless accommodate itself to the wearer and toelastic action of the garment and permit the leg part to adjust itselfand set co nfortably upon the wearer without excessive strain at theconnection locally or as a whole. A further important aim of theinvention is to provide a fastener of this kind which may bedisconnected without the use of implements and may be likewise replaced.

Additional objects, advantages and features of invention reside in theconstruction, arran ement and combination of parts involve in theembodiment of the invention, as will be understood from-the followingdescription and accompanying drawing, wherein, Figure 1 is a side viewof a garment constructed in accordance with my invention,- as worn.

Figure 2 is a detail of the garment opened out flat. v Figure 3 is afragmentary. detail of the connecting means.

Figure 4 is a detail of the fastening band.

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional .view of the belt with the leg partassembled-thereon, parts being broken away to reduce the size of theview.

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional view at the connection between the legand belt.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary enlarged elevation of the loops and coengagedhand.

There is illustrated an abdominal belt 10 which may be constructed inaccordance with approved practices in garment of this nature, or othergarments requiring leg pieces which it is desirable to have detachable.In the present instance, the belt comprises an abdominalsupporter-reducer of elastic material, the ends of which are adapted tobe connected by a lacing at the back of the wearer. Adjacent eachextremity of the belt and spaced above its lower edge, one member 11 ofa'separable fastener is attached and at the front of the garment twosimilar parts 12 of separable fasteners are attached, these last twobeing preferably spaced equally from the medial vertical line of thebelt. A leg piece supporting band or tape 13 is provided,

which is of a length greater than that of the belt 10 at the lower edge,this band having parts 14 of separable fasteners at each endcomplementary with the members 11 on the belt, and toward the middleportion of the band two similar fastening members ifi are provided onthe band complementary with the member 12. This linear measurement ofmaterial in the band between the members 15 exceeds the spacing of themembers-12, and the material in the band between the members 14 and 15exceeds in length the space between the fastenings 11 and 12. When inuse on the person there is thus a slack portion in the band at themiddle between the members 15, as at 13 in Figure 1, while sufiicient'slack is present in the end portions to permit the band to lie inzig-zag form in and between the loops mo 16 and 18, as shown in Figure7. When the fastenin 14 and 15 are coen aged with 11 and 12, t e middleportion of t e band 13 extending between the members 15 will have aconsiderable amount of slack, as shown in Figure 2, whereby liability ofbinding of the band u on the person of the wearer 1s obviated. hecorresponding greater lengths of the band betweenthe fastenings 14 and15 also provides a certain amount of slack which likewise obviatesliability of this band binding upon the person and preventing the belt10 from accommodating itself to the figure of the wearer through thefunctioning of the elastic therein.

Between the fastenings 11 and 12 upon the belt, a series of uniformlyspaced alined endant-loops 16 is attached, these loops attached adistance above the line on which the fastenings 11 are located, so thatthe lower ends of the loops fall adjacent the level of the fastenings11, but stopping short of the lower edge of the belt a distance.

Leg pieces 17 are provided, the. cut of which is familiar in the makinof garments of this kind. The form of eac I is such that the outer sideextends upwardly and has an upper edge portion which may be alined withand secured to the lower edge portion of the belt 10, the front and rearedges of this outer side of the leg extending continuously downward andinwardly, forming the crotch edge or upper ed of the inner side of theleg piece, which is of much less extent vertically than the other side,as is familiar in such garments. The upper edges of the leg pieces maybe hemmedin a simple manner and have attached thereto a series of loops18 spaced at the same intervals as the loops 16, but extending upwardlyso as to lie between the loops 16. These lower loops in the presentinstance extend above the upper edge of the leg piece (although this isnot essential) and are of such length that when they overlap the loops16 a distance correspondlng to the width of the band 13, the to edge ofthe leg still will lie a suitable istance above the lower ed e of thebelt 10 to permit displacement 0 some or all of the loops 18 downward adistance and yet avoid any gap or o ning there. Loops on the leg piecesand lt are overla ped as indicated, and the band 13 threaded throughall, so that the leg is supported by the loops 18 upon the band, and thelatter is sustained by the loops 16. There is required only a veryslight deflection of the band between the multiplicity of loops in orderto take u a considerable amount of slack in the ban In the presentinstance, the loops on the leg ieceexceed the number of those on thebelt two, so that thetwo loops on the leg piece lie flat in front of theforemost loop on the belt inwardly of the fastenings 15 on the belt.This is due to the fact that fewer supports are necessary ing in frontthan at the back of the device, the greatest strain falling upon theconnection between the leg and the belt at the rear. The number of loopsmay be otherwise varied. It may also be found desirable to vary thespacing of the loops upon the belt progressively from the rear towardthe front, making the spacing wider at the front, this being a matter ofdiscretion. In the present instance, the loops are of such width andspacing as to form a ractically continuous connectlon between t e beltand the leg pieces which gives a very good appearance to the article. Adetail which may be noted is the provision upon the front edge of thebelt of a reinforcement 19 which extends only a short distance over thefront portion of the belt, dependin from its lower edge, and beingintended or use for the attachment of hose supporters. The frontfastenings 15 upon the belt are preferably located inwardly of the endsof the reinforcement toward the middle of the belt, and the leg piecesare so arranged that they overlap the ends of the reinforcement so as tocover a hose supporter fastening when attached making further for thegood ap earance of my garment when worn. The astening members 11-12-1415 may be of any familiar snap action type of which there arenumerous kinds upon the market, and they do not require to be of largesize or strength, because of the very slight strain which is applied tothem by the nature of the supporting connection between the legs and thebelt. These fasteningsusually include a small knob-like head on onemember adapted to be pressed into a socket of the opposing element. Thestress to which they are subjected will be transversely of this head.

The garment being assembled as described, the legs may be readilyseparated from the belt by simply lifting the members 14 and 15 from themembers 11 and 12 on the belt, then grasping the band 13 at the looseportion between the fastenings 15, and drawing the ends of thebands'outwardlythrou h the overlapped loops until the 100 s on t e legpiece and belt are left free to e drawn apart. It will be seen thatthere is no metal fastening whatever on the leg pieces, so that they maybe safely run through the laundry apparatus customarily employed in theOldlnary wash. The leg pieces are ordinarily made of a material muchcheaper than that of the belt, and may be readily re laced by new partsfrom time to time wit out any work upon the belt. a

Owing to the fact that-the belt 10 becomes soiled very little whileworn, and may be readily dry-cleaned,-while the leg pieces requirefrequent laundering, my invention enables the ready utilization ofseparable leg pieces upon such a garment to good advantage where beforeno. suitable connection of this kind had been available. The use ofbuttons is objectionable for many reasons, and lacks adaptability toVertical compensation in support of the legs of the garment. Other knownfastenings are similarly objectionable. \Nith my construction, shouldone or more loops not be of the same length as the remainder and be outof line at their extremities, it will be readily ap arent that in thetaking up of the slack o the band 13, such out-of-line loops will beprevented from taking more or less of the load in supportin the leg by agreater or lesser amount of slac of the band taken up thereby.

It will be seen that the utilization of my invention involves noimpairment of functions in garments of this character, and itsmanufacture involves only ordinary sewing operations which may beperformed by seamstresses.

I claim 1. In a garment of the character described, a waistline garmentof elastic material having a multiplicity of pendant loops, a leg memberhaving an upper edge provided with upwardly extending loops to liebetween those first mentioned, a non-elastic band tortuously engagedthrough all of the loops and a separable fastening connecting each endof the band with a respective side of the waistline garment, said bandbeing of a length greater than the normal spacing be tween the points atwhich its ends are connected to the waistline garment wherebycircumferential variation of the size of the garment is permitted byvariation of the angular relation of diagonal parts of the band.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which said waistline garment is anelastic belt element having ends separably connected, said band has twopoints of attachment by separable fasteners at each side of thewaistline garment, the linear measurement of the band between thecentral two being greater than the corresponding measurement of thewaistline garment between its two central complementary fastenings, andthe linear measurement of the band between the fastening elements oneach end portion is greater than the corresponding dimensions of thewaistline garment between the respective complementary fasteningsnormally.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature. I

FRANK J. STUART.

